As a deacon in an urban parish, I have routine contact with the homeless in our community. Our parish is close to an overnight shelter, a drop-in center, soup kitchen, and a community pantry which operate under a Christian collaborative called Cornerstone. The Cornerstone group was started by several Catholic parishes in collaboration with local Christian churches that saw the need to support God's people in need. Over time it has grown to be a valuable ecumenical ministry in our town.

In addition to encountering the homeless in the outreach ministries, several of the homeless come to Mass on weekends and some on week days. The parish community has been very open to welcoming the homeless into our community whenever we gather. The relationship is based on our commitment to love as Christ loves and many of those who are served are of different faiths or of none at all.

The Deacon Congress is sponsoring a blog where interesting articles will be posted each week beginning in January 2017. The blog will feature a variety of authors who will post articles in one of four categories:

1. Deacon Congress - articles about what to expect at the Deacon Congress in 2018

2. Word - articles about deacons as the heralds of the Gospel: yesterday, today and tomorrow.

3. Liturgy - articles about diaconal topics of interest in the celebration of liturgy: yesterday, today and tomorrow.